Acer Aspire 5 (15.6-Inch, 2017) Series

Solid processor performance ; Low price for a solid state drive ; Decent build quality for the money ; Plethora of ports

Screen is dim and seriously lacks in colors and contrast ; Battery life could be better ; Keyboard isn’t backlit

Build quality, lightweight gaming performance, and productivity chops are what separate the Acer Aspire 5 from some other budget laptop alternatives. The display sets it back, though, with a dimness and lack of contrast that makes using it far less...

Affordable price ; Rugged build ; Great keyboard ; Good selection of ports

Affordable price ; Rugged build ; Great keyboard ; Good selection of ports

With its affordable price, decent performance, and robust build, the Acer Aspire 5 is a great budget option for most people.

Intel Optane Memory boosts hard drive speed. 1080p resolution. Comfortable keyboard.

Dim, dark display. Scanty 4GB of system RAM. Lackluster battery life. No SSD, backlit keyboard, touch screen, or Windows Hello support.

Bottom Line: Intel's Optane Memory perks up the 1TB hard drive of Acer's $500 Aspire 5 laptop, but a dim screen and tepid performance will keep it off budget buyers' short lists.

Optane memory delivers impressive boost to HDD performance ; Solid quad-core performance given its budget price ; Springy, tactile keyboard

Dim display with poor viewing angles ; A little heavier and thicker than competing ultraportables ; No keyboard backlighting

Ample memory and storage including SSD. USB-C port. Great battery life.

Dismal display.

Are we being overly fussy, insisting that you should insist on a full HD and IPS display in this price range? Maybe, but we know that such a screen will make you a lot happier than having 12GB versus 8GB of RAM or a hard drive in addition to an SSD....

Inexpensive ; Slim, relatively light design ; Solid dual-core performance ; Impressive battery life

Cramped solid-state drive ; Just 4GB of RAM ; No integrated memory card reader

The Core i3-powered version of the Acer Aspire 5 offers middling speed, and we wish it had more storage, but this still manages to find the sweet spot between size, power, and price. For $400, you get a slim and relatively light chassis, smooth...

Inexpensive ; Plenty of mainstream productivity power ; Impressive battery life ; Fingerprint reader

Dim display ; No memory card reader ; So-so quad-core performance

Another benchmark that pushes a CPU to its limits, Cinebench measures how long it takes for a given system to render a 3D image in real time. It’s another multi-core torture test, and again, we should look for laptops with the most processor cores to...

Bargain price tag ; Solid productivity performance ; Slim and relatively light design

Middling battery life ; Cramped solid-state drive ; No USB-C ports

You can’t expect much in the way of gaming performance from a laptop with an integrated graphics core, but we put the Aspire 5 and its integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics to the test anyway.

Premium design; Solid performance; Affordable ; Awful display; Slow hard drive; Horrible battery life ; The Aspire 5 offers solid performance for the price, but that simply isn't worth the trade-offs you're stuck with.

Awful display; Slow hard drive; Horrible battery life ; The Aspire 5 offers solid performance for the price, but that simply isn't worth the trade-offs you're stuck with.

The Aspire 5 offers solid performance for the price, but that simply isn't worth the trade-offs you're stuck with.

Attractive design; Gorgeous display; Nvidia MX150 graphics ; Comfortable keyboard; An SSD and HDD ; Audio lacks depth; Poor webcam ; The Acer Aspire 5 shines with its fast, extensive drives; crisp, clear display; and elegant design, but falters when it...

Audio lacks depth; Poor webcam ; The Acer Aspire 5 shines with its fast, extensive drives; crisp, clear display; and elegant design, but falters when it comes to audio and price.

The Acer Aspire 5 shines with its fast, extensive drives; crisp, clear display; and elegant design, but falters when it comes to audio and price.